Life cycle-based environmental impacts of energy system transformation strategies for Germany: Are climate and environmental protection conflicting goals?

In the development of climate-friendly energy system transformation strategies it is often ignored that environmental protection encompasses more than climate protection alone. There is therefore a risk of developing transformation strategies whose climate friendliness comes at the expense of higher other environmental impacts. Consequently, an assessment of environmental impacts of energy system transformation strategies is required if undesired environmental side effects of the energy system transformation are to be avoided and transformation strategies are to be developed that are both climate and environmentally friendly. In this paper, ten structurally different transformation strategies for the German energy system were re-modeled (in a harmonized manner). Five of these scenarios describe pathways for a reduction of direct, energy related CO$_2$ emissions by 80%, the other five by 95%. Life cycle-based environmental impacts of the scenarios were assessed by coupling the scenario results with data from a life cycle inventory database focusing on energy and transport technologies. The results show that the transformation to a climate-friendly energy system reduces environmental impacts in many impact categories. However, exceptions occur with respect to the consumption of mineral resources, land use and certain human health indicators, which could increase with decreasing CO$_2$ emissions. The comparison of environmental impacts of moderately ambitious strategies (80% CO$_2$ reduction) with very ambitious strategies (95% CO$_2$ reduction) shows that there is a risk of increasing environmental impacts with increasing climate protection, although very ambitious strategies do not necessarily come along with higher environmental impacts than moderately ambitious strategies. A reduction of environmental impacts could be achieved by a moderate and – as far as possible – direct electrification of heat and transport, a balanced technology mix for electricity generation, by reducing the number and size of passenger cars and by reducing the environmental impacts from the construction of these vehicles

Integrated multidimensional sustainability assessment of energy system transformation pathways

Sustainable development embraces a broad spectrum of social, economic and ecological aspects. Thus, a sustainable transformation process of energy systems is inevitably multidimensional and needs to go beyond climate impact and cost considerations. An approach for an integrated and interdisciplinary sustainability assessment of energy system transformation pathways is presented here. It first integrates energy system modeling with a multidimensional impact assessment that focuses on life cycle-based environmental and macroeconomic impacts. Then, stakeholders’ preferences with respect to defined sustainability indicators are inquired, which are finally integrated into a comparative scenario evaluation through a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), all in one consistent assessment framework. As an illustrative example, this holistic approach is applied to the sustainability assessment of ten different transformation strategies for Germany. Applying multi-criteria decision analysis reveals that both ambitious (80%) and highly ambitious (95%) carbon reduction scenarios can achieve top sustainability ranks, depending on the underlying energy transformation pathways and respective scores in other sustainability dimensions. Furthermore, this research highlights an increasingly dominant contribution of energy systems’ upstream chains on total environmental impacts, reveals rather small differences in macroeconomic effects between different scenarios and identifies the transition among societal segments and climate impact minimization as the most important stakeholder preferences

Practitioner’s Section: Integrated Resource Efficiency Analysis for Reducing Climate Impacts in the Chemical Industry

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the material-intensive chemical industry requires an integrated analysis and optimization of the complex production systems including raw material and energy use, resulting costs and environmental and climate impacts. To meet this challenge, the research project InReff (Integrated Resource Efficiency Analysis for Reducing Climate Impacts in the Chemical Industry) has been established. It aims at the development of an IT-supported modeling and evaluation framework which is able to comprehensively address issues of resource efficiency and climate change within the chemical industry, e.g. the minimization of material and energy intensity and consequently greenhouse gas emissions, without compromising on production performance. The paper presents background information on resource efficiency and the research project, an ideal-typical decision model for resource efficiency analysis, the conceptual approach for an IT-based integration platform as well as the case study design at the industrial project partners’ sites. These first results are linked to future activities and further research questions are highlighted in the concluding section

Application of eco-efficiency analysis to assess three different recycling technologies for carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs)

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the eco-efficiency of three different recycling technologies for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) waste, and to identify the preferable and most efficient solution. Recycling via mechanical shredding, microwave pyrolysis and subcritical solvolysis is compared and comprehensive primary data on energy demand and process throughput are examined. Following an ecological and economic assessment, the results are normalized and summarized into three single-score indicators. To decide which solution is most efficient, economic and ecological data are plotted on an eco-efficiency portfolio. The achieved results demonstrate that the eco-efficiency of the recycling technologies investigated is entirely positive on an industrial scale, and that the efficient use of CFRPs across the entire life cycle is possible. The material recycling of CFRP waste is consequently a promising topic for future development. The use of recycled material a s conductivity additives in secondary applications can be considered as a valuable option for all three technologies, although the benefits of recycling are strongly dependent on the quality and quantity of the recycled material. Depending on the resources substituted in a secondary application, different recycling technologies offer considerable advantages. To ensure a consistently high quality of output materials on an industrial scale, specific process parameters have to be identified, for which, further research is necessary

Edukasi dan Deteksi Dini Sindrom Metabolik pada Masyarakat Desa Waai Kecamatan Salahutu

Sindrom metabolik merupakan suatu kelainan metabolik yang secara kompleks meliputi melainan metabolism karbohidrat, lipid dan protein yang diketahui menjadi penyebab utama penyakit diabetes melitus, hipertensi serta penyakit jantung koroner. Desa Waai Kecamatan Salahutu merupakan salah satu desa dengan kasus sindrom metabolik yang tinggi. Tujuan kegiatan ini adalah untuk memberikan edukasi kepada masyarakat tentang sindrom metabolik dengan metode ceramah dilanjutkan dengan pemeriksaan untuk mendeteksi adanya sindrom metabolik yaitu pengukuran tekanan darah, pemeriksaan kadar glukosa darah puasa dan pemeriksaan kadar trigliserida dengan metode Point of Care Testing. Hasil dari kegiatan ini adalah terjadinya peningkatan pengetahuan dan pemahaman masyarakat tentang sindrom metabolik. Terdapat 29 dari 50 peserta (58%) yang mengalami sindrom metabolik dengan rerata tekanan darah 148/94 mmHg, rerata kadar glukosa darah puasa sebesar 158 mg/dL, dan rerata kadar trigliserida sebesar 198 mg/dL. Diharapkan adanya perhatian secara serius oleh tenaga kesehatan setempat maupun pihak-pihak terkait untuk terus melakukan edukasi dan upaya preventif demi pencegahan komplikasi sindrom metabolik